The Coustou and Houdon rooms at the Louvre Museum around 1900 - Alfred Nicolas Martin (1868-1947)

Oil on canvas
France, c 1924
Alfred Nicolas Martin (1868-1947)
Signed, bottom left: 'Alfred Martin'
Exhibited : Exhibition:
Grand Palais, Paris, Salon of 1924, in the catalog under n°131
Art Loss Register Certificate: S00241011


H 65 x W 81 cm
H 25 2/3 x W 31 7/8 inch






Our painting is part of a series of five canvases executed at the beginning of the 20th century, and which is now partly in the Louvre Museum.
The sublect of this series is the so-called "modern" sculpture rooms of the National Museum.

The Salle Coustou and the Salle Houdon visible in our painting followed the Salle Goujon, Salle Puget and Salle Coysevox, Installed in the Galerie d'Angoulême, in the west wing of the Cour Carrée, between the Pavillon de l'Horloge and the Pavillon de Beauvals. The architecture that is clearly recognizable on our canvas is that of Lemercler, redesigned by Fontaine under the Empire. This western part of the courtyard of the Louvre, renamed the Sully Pavilion, now houses the Oriental Antiquities Department.

Of this series of paintings, La Salle Pierre Puget and La Salle Jean Goujon are now part of the collections of the Musée du Louvre (under Inventory numbers INV 20245 and INV 20246).

The artist also exhibited at the Salon In 1910 and 1912 the Salle des Caryatides and the Salle du Tibre.

Our painting completes this panorama and adds a fifth decisive element. It was exhibited at the Grand Palais during the 1924 Salon.

This vibrant and luminous work easily allows us to reconstruct what the sculpture halls of the Louvre were like over a century ago. The subtle gradations, the energetic and precise drawing, clearly identify a great number of unforgettable pieces of French art.

From left to right, we recognize: the Venus coming out of the bath by Allegrain, the Neptune calming the angry waves by Lambert Sigismond Adam, Cupid ready to throw a stroke by Tassaert (now on deposit at the Malmaison), the Hannibal by Sebastien Slodtz, the Sleeping Shepherd by Vasse, the Diana by Houdon and finally the Bacchante with two children by Pajou